Solicitor for the families Niall Murphy said: “The court has provided a short adjournment to permit a significant issue to be explored and we welcome the opportunity to explore that significant issue and will consider our options as information becomes available.

“It is a sensitive issue so that is as far as we are going to take it today.”

Last December Mr Justice McCloskey said the Ombudsman’s finding on collusion was “unsustainable” but deferred deciding whether to quash the report.

He had been expected to complete his findings on Friday but received a last minute submission from lawyers.

Emma Rogan, whose father Adrian was among those killed, said: “It is a delay, we are frustrated, but we welcome the opportunity that our legal teams are able to explore this development and we see where we go from there.

“We are relieved that it has not been quashed today.”

Demonstrators outside court as a judge deferred completing a ruling on the Loughinisland shooting dead of six people in 1994. Michael McHugh/PA